Top cop vows to get to the bottom of sexual assault reports

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By Machela Osagboro.

Acting Commissioner of Police, Atlee Rodney vowed to get to the bottom of the matter of the numerous sexual assault and harassment claims against a top official in the Ministry of Public Works.

The acting commissioner was adamant that if any woman is experiencing any acts of sexual harassment or assault that she should report it to the police and it will be dealt with post haste.

“If somebody is making a report, then it is like any other assault report … I will verify and… find out if anyone made a report like that at CID and deal with it,” he said.

News of numerous allegations of sexual assault rocked the nation last Thursday when OBSERVER media learned that in 2019, about a dozen women had written to the Minister of Public Works, Lennox Weston, levelling sexual harassment and sexual assault charges against a top official in the ministry.

In the letters to Public Works Minister Lennox Weston and Permanent Secretary Clarence Pilgrim, one woman said that she was “fed up” and wants the officials to stop harassing her.

Another woman who is a security guard who has three children also claimed that she took up a side job as a janitor at the man’s home. The distressed woman said he became obsessed with her and the relationship became physically abusive.

The woman is accusing the said individual of beating, choking, and squeezing her. Understandably the woman said that she feared for the lives of herself and her children.

The women have stated that the staff want the man to be transferred. However, nothing has been done about the matter and according to the women they were at wits end. In the face of non-action on the part of management they decided to come forward and reveal the letters.

In a move to remedy the situation a letter obtained by our newsroom, signed by the Permanent Secretary Clarence Pilgrim and Minister Weston recommended that the top official be suspended and transferred. Unfortunately, when the staff spoke to our newsroom, they claimed no transfer had taken place.

See more in the Daily OBSERVER.

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